Six Vidi grants awarded to UM researchers

Six researchers from Maastricht University (UM) will each receive up to €800,000 to launch an innovative research line and set up their own research groups. The researchers have been awarded a Vidi grant under the Innovational Research Incentives Scheme by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), which offers Veni, Vidi and Vici grants. This was announced today by the NWO.

The recipients are Milene Bonte (reading development and dyslexia) and Anne Roefs (food processing stimuli in the brain) of the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience; Judith Cosemans (the role of platelet proteins in cardiac and cerebral infarctions) and John Penders (the spread of antibiotic resistance in the Vietnamese population and Dutch travellers) of the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences; Bart Golsteyn (the importance of personality in academic performance) of the School of Business and Economics; and Bram Vanhofstraeten (historical research on early modern partnerships) of the Faculty of Law. Click here for a summary of their research projects.

VidiVidi is geared towards outstanding researchers who have conducted several years of successful research after obtaining their PhDs. The researchers are ranked among the top 10-20 percent in their fields. A Vidi grant gives them the opportunity to conduct five years of research on the topic of their choosing. In this way, the NWO is stimulating curiosity-driven and innovative research.

The NWO selects Vidi laureates based on their research qualities, the innovative nature of their research, the expected scientific impact of their research proposal and the opportunities for knowledge exploitation. Vidi grants are awarded annually by the NWO. A total of 572 researchers were awarded a provisional Vidi grant in this round, of which 87 (15%) were honoured (60 men and 27 women).

Innovational Research Incentives SchemeVidi is one of three forms of financing included under the Innovational Research Incentives Scheme. The other two are Veni (for recent graduates) and Vici (for experienced researchers). The Innovational Research Incentives Scheme aims to facilitate innovative scientific research and was developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the universities.

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